Cup semi final at Renfrew

[SouthLanarkshireWhite]

Hello

next week my boy is playing in the Scottish Cup semi at Renfrew. Can anyone tell me what facilities are there nowadays? Is there a cover, catering etc.

Any info welcome.

Cheers

[KilsythCoyle]

Look at the New Western Park flypast thread

[Nugent4nil]

They have a great wee set up, covered enclosure hot / cold snacks and a lisenced bar ????

[SouthLanarkshireWhite]

Thanks

[Theobserver]

One of the best grounds i've visited recently, plenty parking, snack bar, licensed bar, covered enclosure, and close to the surface terrace, surface looks decent for 3G..all round great facility.

[Guest]

Took in a Scottish Cup Tie earlier in the season, my first look at the new facilities. Yes very good access, loads of room for parking. The ground itself does have an enclosure, but very small. Not a lot of terracing either. Pitch is artificial but looked one of the better ones. Floodlights a big plus.

Renfrew deserve great credit for making this happen and I'm sure the club and supporters are delighted. Looking at it from a Junior fans perspective though it does fall short in a lot of aspects. It has more of a training complex feel to it that a football ground, lacks character and atmosphere. There was not a very big crowd there and thus accommodated fully on the day, however would think a big Scottish tie would challenge the spectating aspect severely.

As you might guess, as a traditionalist I'm not a huge fan of these types of facilities. However recognise the mitigating factors. It is modern and has all you need to host a game and keep the spectators comfortable, so long as there's not too many.

[dolce gusto]

I've got to totally disagree with you Isobel. I found the ground to be an excellent experience. Lots of local enthusiasm, plenty of safe parking, super facilities for fans, a public bar, best 4G pitch I've seen (not a fan but a realist it's a necessity for junior clubs) and a club certainly on the up. Given their position in league compared to last year then I'd say that the move to new ground has been only been a positive. Well done to the committee and all involved at Renfrew.

[Glenconner]

One of the things about Renfrew's ground there's certainly plenty of room to expand if they wanted to since spectators at the moment are only on two sides of the ground.

Catering facilities are excellent.

Great wee ground.

[connolly81]

Renfrew is a superb set up and the pitch is perfect best set up in our league along with the ants pitch

[LeedsPhil]

The OP should bear in mind that folks on here are talking about facilities for a Renfrew game.

 

I was at New Western Park last Saturday, when it was being used by Edusport Academy (South of Scotland League) for their 'home' QF in the SFA South Region Challenge Cup. Edusport normally play at Annan Athletic's ground but they already had a home SPFL match there, so Edusport had to look elsewhere to host this cup tie (v Civil Service Strollers from Edinburgh) and took it to Renfrew.

 

Neither the bar nor the catering were open.

Unsurprising - when a third party hires a pitch you just get the pitch + changing rooms etc, not the bar staff and catering staff.

 

Depends on the expected attendance I suppose - whether Renfrew think there's going to be enough folks there to justify running a bar & getting the pies in.

Edusport's fixture drew just 15 spectators (and six of those were just unselected players cheering on their team-mates). They didn't even charge entry - gate wide open, just wander in.

Hopefully there's a lot more interest than that in your lad's SF, so you might yet get a pie-&-a-pint !

Good luck.

[Guest]

I've got to totally disagree with you Isobel. I found the ground to be an excellent experience. Lots of local enthusiasm, plenty of safe parking, super facilities for fans, a public bar, best 4G pitch I've seen (not a fan but a realist it's a necessity for junior clubs) and a club certainly on the up. Given their position in league compared to last year then I'd say that the move to new ground has been only been a positive. Well done to the committee and all involved at Renfrew.

All relative to people's perspective. I agree with much of what you say, the setup is functional and probably appropriate to the club and where they are at the moment. However, I find these complex type set ups soulless and devoid of character. Not saying that the facilities are not better than the majority of Junior grounds which have on the whole had no investment. I am I suppose a traditionalist. The artificial surface does look good, but they wear out and need reinvestment which does seem to be overlooked a lot on these discussions, and that's not even going into the health issues. Super facility for the fans? Think that might be stretching it a bit, which will probably bear out the first decent crowd to turn up.

[frewy]

All relative to people's perspective. I agree with much of what you say, the setup is functional and probably appropriate to the club and where they are at the moment. However, I find these complex type set ups soulless and devoid of character. Not saying that the facilities are not better than the majority of Junior grounds which have on the whole had no investment. I am I suppose a traditionalist. The artificial surface does look good, but they wear out and need reinvestment which does seem to be overlooked a lot on these discussions, and that's not even going into the health issues. Super facility for the fans? Think that might be stretching it a bit, which will probably bear out the first decent crowd to turn up.

 

As a Renfrew fan for over 30 years, I would also like a traditional set-up with a grass pitch and a traditional (ie. lived in and a bit old fashioned) ground, but times have changed.  Why have a pitch and a ground thats falling apart, and rarely used when (albeit after many years of to-ing and fro-ing) we were able to have a facility that can be used by all, not just once every two weeks, and not subject to multiple winter call-offs.

 

The reality is that we now have a ground with floodlights thats also a darn sight safer than the old one was.  It is used by us for playing and training, which saves a fortune in training pitch hires, which are now hard to get at the best of times.  We have our own youth sides from young kids up to under 19s, a ladies side, two saturday amateur sides and a massive upsurge in interest in the club overall, at all levels.  St Mirrens U20 side play regular games there and there are youth games (4 and 7 a side) played on weekend mornings which attract many parents and families. There are other regular hires, as well as a swathe of end of season semi finals and finals due.  

 

The bar and food facility is franchised out by the club to a local business.  I expect the attraction of Edusport wasnt sufficient for warranting an opening -and proved correct.   The pitch is well-maintained and money set aside for this and also for a future replacement pitch (hopefully not for the best part of a decade if the current one is maintained properly).

 

The situation at present with only two sides opened for standing on is not perfect but I understand most of the other 2 sides should be fenced and opened within the next year.  In the past thirty-plus years that I had been attending , the old ground only held more than 800 people on around four occasions (and only one of them approached anywhere near 1500) and this could be coped for OK within the current set-up.  I would imagine that eventually crowds of around 1500 or a bit more should be accommodated safely which should be perfectly reasonable for any expectations in the short to medium term future, and probably much longer ahead.   

 

Overall feedback since the opening in August has been positive - even many of the groundhoppers from England have commented that for a new-build ground, it is one of the best they have seen...and they have seen a lot !

[Guest]

As a Renfrew fan for over 30 years, I would also like a traditional set-up with a grass pitch and a traditional (ie. lived in and a bit old fashioned) ground, but times have changed.  Why have a pitch and a ground thats falling apart, and rarely used when (albeit after many years of to-ing and fro-ing) we were able to have a facility that can be used by all, not just once every two weeks, and not subject to multiple winter call-offs.

 

The reality is that we now have a ground with floodlights thats also a darn sight safer than the old one was.  It is used by us for playing and training, which saves a fortune in training pitch hires, which are now hard to get at the best of times.  We have our own youth sides from young kids up to under 19s, a ladies side, two saturday amateur sides and a massive upsurge in interest in the club overall, at all levels.  St Mirrens U20 side play regular games there and there are youth games (4 and 7 a side) played on weekend mornings which attract many parents and families. There are other regular hires, as well as a swathe of end of season semi finals and finals due.  

 

The bar and food facility is franchised out by the club to a local business.  I expect the attraction of Edusport wasnt sufficient for warranting an opening -and proved correct.   The pitch is well-maintained and money set aside for this and also for a future replacement pitch (hopefully not for the best part of a decade if the current one is maintained properly).

 

The situation at present with only two sides opened for standing on is not perfect but I understand most of the other 2 sides should be fenced and opened within the next year.  In the past thirty-plus years that I had been attending , the old ground only held more than 800 people on around four occasions (and only one of them approached anywhere near 1500) and this could be coped for OK within the current set-up.  I would imagine that eventually crowds of around 1500 or a bit more should be accommodated safely which should be perfectly reasonable for any expectations in the short to medium term future, and probably much longer ahead.   

 

Overall feedback since the opening in August has been positive - even many of the groundhoppers from England have commented that for a new-build ground, it is one of the best they have seen...and they have seen a lot !

Good luck with it, as you say there are a lot of plus's. However I doubt very much if the new ground could hold 1500. Time will tell I suppose.

[SouthLanarkshireWhite]

Thanks all

 

We had a great day and finished it off with a penalties win to get to the Scottish Cup Final. Very proud dad and over the moon with it all.

 

Decent crowd for the boys too at c 300 so it was a decent atmosphere, and well done to all at Glenvale who lost in a good spirit. Thanks to all at Renfrew for the food and hospitality laid on.

 

Great wee day.

 

Airdrie here we come.